Martinez delighted with Wigan win

26 August 2012 07:47

Wigan manager Roberto Martinez lauded his players after they dispatched of Southampton in the newly-promoted club's first home Premier League game for seven years.

Franco Di Santo's classy strike and a late Arouna Kone effort helped the Latics secure their first points of the season - something that had looked unlikely early on.

"I think to say I am pleased would be an understatement," Martinez said. "I am very, very satisfied because we knew how difficult it would be and I thought the first half an hour showed that."

He added: "When you come to a newly-promoted side like Southampton with an incredible feeling and momentum from the last two seasons, we knew we would have to cope with that in the first half an hour.

"I don't think the Southampton players should be disappointed at all. I thought they put us in a position where we had to defend and needed Ali Al-Habsi to be at his best."

Southampton began brightly and captain Adam Lallana saw an early long-range effort tipped onto the bar by Athletic goalkeeper Ali Al-Habsi. Jos Hooiveld also hit the bar late on but Wigan made the most of the goalkeeper's saves and Saints' weak-looking defence to rack up their first points of the season.

Southampton came into the game buoyed by last weekend's impressive performance at champions Manchester City, who had to come from behind to win 3-2. However, Saints failed to replicate that performance at St Mary's on Saturday as they fell to defeat - much to manager Nigel Adkins' disappointment.

"We were after the three points today," he said. "Obviously we started brightly, we've had some good opportunities.

"The goalkeeper has made some good saves. We've hit the bar on a couple of occasions. I think it just highlights how ruthless the Barclays Premier League is."

He added: "There was a lot of positives to take from it in terms of the opportunities we did create, but ultimately we were looking for the three points today."